Pons

Helene Pons, a leading costume designer for almost four decades until her retirement in 1965, died of kidney problems on Thursday at a private clinic in Rome. She was within two weeks of her 92nd birthday. Pons designed and executed the costumes for such shows as Our Town and The Diary of Anne Frank. She also designed costumes for the Metropolitan Opera Co., American Ballet Theater, and the New York City Ballet.

For 14 years James Allen, a retired medical-office manager, went to eye doctor David Ming Pon in Leesburg for monthly treatments that he believed would save his eyesight. Allen suffered from macular degeneration, Pon told him, a progressive disease that the ophthalmologist could manage with laser treatments. In October, however, Allen sat in Pon's waiting room for four hours, something that made the 91-year-old Minneola man angry. So he got a new eye doctor, who told Allen he did not have macular degeneration.

As his best friends see it, Ramon Concepcion Pons led an eventful life.After escaping Cuba in the 1960s, Pons traveled around the world, eventually settling in Illinois and Florida where he forged many close friendships.''Some people simply have a charisma or an inner light,'' said friend Olga Febles of Coral Gables. ''Ramon was that type of man.''The Temple Drive resident died Friday of complications from hepatitis. He was 62.Born in Cuba, Pons left in his 20s and lived in Spain for a short time, said friend Dean Rhoads of Winter Park.

Michael Chabon joined us for a video interview to talk about "Telegraph Avenue," his creative process, reaching a point of despair, whether it's risky to write across gender and race, and "really really really long sentences. " And how the invented world of a novel can be made real, as it comes alive on film or even on a film's sets, and that's like stepping into a dreamscape. In the interview, Chabon talks about world building in his novels. He considers whether it's easier to create a fiction that's based in the pop culture we know or to invent an alternative reality.

Nine years ago, Fabio Alexander Pons languished at the Orange County Jail for three days without medical attention for a broken hip he suffered during a fight with police. Pons, then 42, got around by dragging himself on his hands and knees in his cell, according to court records. The jail's staff made fun of him, thinking he was faking his injuries, records say. And the jail's former medical director, Dr. Billy Blakey, misdiagnosed his injury. That November 1993 experience changed Pons, his parents said of the Army veteran who was honorably discharged in 1970 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and who had a long history of brushes with the law. Since then, say his parents, a fear of authority and uniformed officers consumed Pons, who died Nov. 30 during another encounter with police.

Four Orlando police officers have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a paranoid schizophrenic who recorded his last breaths on a tape recorder during a fatal 2002 traffic stop. The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office last month sent a letter to Orlando police Chief Mike McCoy, telling him the officers' use of force on Fabio Pons, 51, was justified. The letter by State Attorney Lawson Lamar said Pons -- a 320-pound, 6-foot-4 Orlando resident -- suffered from advanced heart disease and had a history of confrontations with police, including at least 32 arrests dating to 1975.

Until recently, Irene Pons had never even been in a pageant. But her inexperience wearing a crown hasn't stopped her from taking on with a passion the role of Queen of Casa de Puerto Rico.Pons, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Central Florida, is just hitting her stride as the local ambassador for the service organization. Her primary message, a platform she outlined when she was crowned in late May, is one of nonviolence - a concern across the nation following the string of school shootings in recent years.

A 51-year-old motorist who died last weekend after Orlando police tried to arrest him taunted officers with yells of "Go ahead. Shoot Me. Go ahead. Shoot me," sources familiar with the incident said Monday. Fabio Alexander Pons' encounter at noon Saturday with authorities was at least the 20th in a little more than a decade, records show. On Monday, law-enforcement sources said he had a real-looking pellet gun in his father's blue van and tried to tape-record his last and deadly struggle with authorities.

Fabio Alexander Pons always tried to avoid the police, but sometimes it didn't work, his family said. Over the years, the 51-year-old paranoid schizophrenic tangled with officers, one episode resulting in a broken leg for Pons, his father, Fabio E. Pons, said. On Saturday, the younger Pons died in what would become his final struggle with police. Pons was a gentle person who enjoyed painting and fishing, his father said. "He was a very passive person," said the elder Pons, 76, from his Orlando home.

The Rev. Antonio Pons, 63, of Haines City died Monday, Feb. 15. He had been the pastor of St. Ann's Catholic Church since October 1992.He served as pastor of St. Mary of the Lakes Catholic Church, Eustis, from December 1986 to October 1992. His ties to Florida go back to the late 1960s, when he was assigned to work for the Diocese of St. Augustine.Pons was ordained in Tarragona, Spain, in 1962. He served in parishes in St. Augustine, Avon Park and Orlando, including Blessed Trinity Church, where he was pastor from February 1974 to December 1986.

Four Orlando police officers have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a paranoid schizophrenic who recorded his last breaths on a tape recorder during a fatal 2002 traffic stop. The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office last month sent a letter to Orlando police Chief Mike McCoy, telling him the officers' use of force on Fabio Pons, 51, was justified. The letter by State Attorney Lawson Lamar said Pons -- a 320-pound, 6-foot-4 Orlando resident -- suffered from advanced heart disease and had a history of confrontations with police, including at least 32 arrests dating to 1975.

"If music be the food of love, play on, play on," Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night. The characters in Food of Love play on -- and play around -- in this modest appetizer of a comedy. Food of Love is a mild-mannered gay soap opera with just a hint of the comic about it. Set in the world of classical music and concert pianists, it explores the whole mentor-gay teen concubine relationship. It's a pity it doesn't surprise or amuse more than it does. Paul, played by Kevin Bishop, is an eager-to-please 18-year-old San Franciscan when we meet him. He turns pages for his idol, Richard (Paul Rhys)

Nine years ago, Fabio Alexander Pons languished at the Orange County Jail for three days without medical attention for a broken hip he suffered during a fight with police. Pons, then 42, got around by dragging himself on his hands and knees in his cell, according to court records. The jail's staff made fun of him, thinking he was faking his injuries, records say. And the jail's former medical director, Dr. Billy Blakey, misdiagnosed his injury. That November 1993 experience changed Pons, his parents said of the Army veteran who was honorably discharged in 1970 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and who had a long history of brushes with the law. Since then, say his parents, a fear of authority and uniformed officers consumed Pons, who died Nov. 30 during another encounter with police.

The NAACP announced Tuesday that it will closely examine the death of a 51-year-old motorist at the hands of Orlando police officers Saturday. The national civil-rights organization denounced what it called the Orlando Police Department's use of "excessive force" during the arrest of Fabio Alexander Pons outside an apartment building off South Kirkman Road. A local representative said the organization has started its own investigation based on accounts by witnesses who said they saw officers "hitting, kicking and zapping" Pons with a device while trying to restrain him after a traffic stop.

A 51-year-old motorist who died last weekend after Orlando police tried to arrest him taunted officers with yells of "Go ahead. Shoot Me. Go ahead. Shoot me," sources familiar with the incident said Monday. Fabio Alexander Pons' encounter at noon Saturday with authorities was at least the 20th in a little more than a decade, records show. On Monday, law-enforcement sources said he had a real-looking pellet gun in his father's blue van and tried to tape-record his last and deadly struggle with authorities.

Transport Minister Bernard Pons agreed Saturday to appoint a mediator to help end a weeklong protest in which truckers have blocked about 30 cities and towns and a dozen gasoline distribution depots across France. Union representatives said they had accepted the offer and said Pons would put his suggestion to the trucking companies. Issues in the dispute include retirement age, pensions and working hours.

Forget Michael Jordan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna. Given the chance to meet a star, Kristin Ludecke would rather pal around with opera singers Roberta Peters or Robert Merrill.And thats exactly what the 21-year-old former Miss Florida from Eustis did last year as part of her research for a book on the late opera diva Lily Pons.One by one, from New York to France, some of Americas opera greats granted Ludecke an interview for the biography of Pons, a flamboyant international star of the mid-20th century.

Fabio Alexander Pons always tried to avoid the police, but sometimes it didn't work, his family said. Over the years, the 51-year-old paranoid schizophrenic tangled with officers, one episode resulting in a broken leg for Pons, his father, Fabio E. Pons, said. On Saturday, the younger Pons died in what would become his final struggle with police. Pons was a gentle person who enjoyed painting and fishing, his father said. "He was a very passive person," said the elder Pons, 76, from his Orlando home.

They sound like a typical nuclear family of the '90s. He sells houses for a major developer. She works for a law firm. A son is a physician in another state. Their 17-year-old daughter is still in high school. But Fabio and Sonja Pons of Orlando are far from typical. He's a 76-year-old Roman Catholic Hispanic from the Dominican Republic. She's a 71-year-old Jew-turned-Catholic from Austria. And, earlier this month, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. In spite of all the improbabilities in their lives, the Ponses call theirs a wonderful marriage.